Attraction

Collegium Novum in Krakow: façade, aula and room 56

A neo-Gothic building of exposed brick, built in 1883-1887 to a design by Feliks Księżarski, mainly on the site of two student hostels. Its aula holds a painting by Jan Matejko.

Collegium Novum in Krakow, on Gołębia Street, holds the rector's office and the deans' offices of the Jagiellonian University (Uniwersytet Jagielloński). The building's neo-Gothic façade of exposed brick can be seen from the street. Collegium Novum is a working university building, not a museum. It stands about 100 m from Collegium Maius.

A working building of the Jagiellonian University

The address is Gołębia 24, 31-007 Krakow. Collegium Novum is the main administrative building of the university. It contains the rector's office, deans' offices, professors' offices, the bursar's offices and several lecture rooms. The building is in the Old Town (Stare Miasto), the district covered by our electric cart tour of the Old Town.

The city's description of Collegium Novum is on the City of Krakow website.

What you can see on the Collegium Novum façade

The façade is monumental and built of exposed brick. The City of Krakow describes Collegium Novum as an outstanding example of neo-Gothic architecture.

Above the pointed arches of the gateways are the five large windows of the aula, the university's assembly hall, which rises through two storeys. Painted coats of arms of the university's benefactors are set in the window pediments and above them. At the top of the façade gable is the university's coat of arms: St Stanisław holding a shield with the Polish eagle.

The aula of Collegium Novum and its interiors

The aula has a beamed, coffered ceiling and is decorated with portraits of the university's professors and rectors. Jan Matejko's painting Astronom Kopernik, czyli rozmowa z Bogiem (Astronomer Copernicus, or Conversation with God) hangs in the aula.

The interiors have a formal character. They have pointed-arch doorways, a staircase, and crystal and star vaults over the corridors.

History of Collegium Novum: built 1883-1887

Collegium Novum was built in 1883-1887 to a design by Feliks Księżarski. The City of Krakow calls it the most imposing building of the Jagiellonian University. The building stands mainly on the site of two demolished student hostels, the Bursa Filozofów and the Bursa Jerozolimska (a bursa is a house for students). Both hostels had almost completely burned in 1841.

The Bursa Jerozolimska was the best known of the student hostels in Krakow. According to tradition, Cardinal Zbigniew Oleśnicki founded it as atonement for an unfulfilled vow to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The same tradition explains the hostel's name in this way.

The Sonderaktion Krakau of 6 November 1939

Room 56 is on the second floor of Collegium Novum. On 6 November 1939, during the so-called Sonderaktion Krakau, the Germans arrested 183 academic staff of the Jagiellonian University and other higher education institutions in Krakow in this room. They deported them to the camp in Sachsenhausen, and many never returned.

A plaque set into the wall of room 56 commemorates the people whom the Germans arrested there.

St Anne's Church and Planty Park nearby

Collegium Maius is about 100 m away. St Anne's Church is about 150 m from Collegium Novum, and Planty Park is about 200 m away. Pierogarnia Krakowiacy is about 250 m away. All these distances are in a straight line.

Collegium Novum: questions visitors ask

What architectural style is Collegium Novum?

Neo-Gothic. The façade is of exposed brick, with pointed-arch gateways, and the interiors have pointed-arch doorways and crystal and star vaults.

Who designed Collegium Novum in Krakow?

Feliks Księżarski. The building went up in 1883-1887.

What is in the aula of Collegium Novum?

Portraits of the university's professors and rectors, and a painting by Jan Matejko titled Astronom Kopernik, czyli rozmowa z Bogiem. The hall is two storeys high, with five large windows on the façade.

What happened in Collegium Novum on 6 November 1939?

The Germans arrested 183 academic staff from higher education institutions in Krakow in room 56, during the so-called Sonderaktion Krakau. The Germans then deported them to the camp in Sachsenhausen.